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Going to Georgia
Going to Georgia is the 18th song on the album Zopilote Machine. Although it is one of the most popular Mountain Goats songs from the lo-fi era, John Darnielle has disavowed it and retired it from live sets due to a belief that it romanticizes gun violence and may have been written (or at the very least be interpreted) in a misogynistic mannerhttp://rachelfershleiser.com/post/39667367736/in-which-john-darnielle-responds-to-my-question. Lyrics The most remarkable thing about coming home to you is the feeling of being in motion again It's the most extraordinary thing in the world I have two big hands and a heart pumping blood and a 1967 Colt .45 with a busted safety catch The world shines as I cross the Macon county line Going to Georgia The most remarkable thing about you standing in the doorway is that it's you And that you're standing in the doorway And you smile as you ease the gun from my hand and I’m frozen with joy right where I stand The world throws its light underneath your hair Forty miles from Atlanta, this is nowhere Going to Georgia Comments by John Darnielle About this Song *"I wrote this song on Christmas morning in like '93—I know, we're all old—and to me, at the time, Georgia was a distant continent, shrouded in mystery, and I never figured I'd ever see it. I lived on the west coast. Those of us who grew up in California aren't really fully convinced that there's another world beyond southern California. I remember the day in 1998 that Simon Joyner and I were on the highway, and I crossed the Macon County line, and I was like 'holy fucking shit'." -- 2006-08-10 - 40 Watt Club - Athens, GA * "Back then I mainly started playing and improvising whatever lyrics came to mind. So the inspiration is really that little riff from the A to the D string. I was playing that and sort of basking in how much I liked the way it sounded, and I ad-libbed the opening lines, and that suggested a little story, so I filled in the details. There was no real-life situation inspiring the story, it is just a story. I think the emotional hook comes from me being pretty well "inside" the story by the time I get to the end." -- John's AMA *"I honestly don't want to play Going to Georgia ever again. I really confronted my old catalog because I began getting more and more engaged with my feminism, and I think Going to Georgia is a bullshit song. Bottom line: I know it's got a nice melody, and it's got a cool vibe, but that dude is bullshit and I don't want to be involved with him anymore. I'm not saying I'll never play it, I probably will, especially when the three of us are playing it kind of rocks, but I wish its lyrics were different, I don't know what to do with that. I don't like what's going on in that song. It seems daring and edgy to a 26-year-old dude to have a guy who goes down with a gun for unknown purposes to see somebody he claims to love, but to my present self, that guy is a fucking asshole. I don't like to celebrate things like that. I'm not ashamed of the song, the song has a vibe, I can't deny it, and I listen to Cannibal Corpse, you know. The song 'Fucked with a Knife', there aren't multiple readings of that song. That song is a terrible, horrible song but you know, my own part in that stuff, I don't know. I have complex feelings about it." -- 2012-06-22 - Rio Theater - Vancouver, British Columbia *"I had a good time playing it for many years, and then I made the mistake of listening to it." -- 2012-10-13 - Music Hall of Williamsburg - Brooklyn, NY *"My gut tells me the whole deal with 'Going to Georgia' is bogus, so that’s that. A better song would be one from the perspective of the person whose former partner has shown up on the porch of his/her house with a damn gun, that’s the hero of the song whose story is more interesting from where I’m at now." -- John's Tumblr *"'Going to Georgia' - who even knows anything about the 'you' in that song? The narrator can’t tell you because his narcissism doesn’t really allow the autonomy of other people. As a younger writer I found some romance in that level of self-absorption. I’m grown now." -- John's Tumblr * "I wanna say to interrupt the narrator -- the most extraordinary feeling in the whole world is to wake up in jail. That's a really extraordinary feeling. So compared to this guy being wrapped up in his own ideas and feelings, to wake up, oh, I'm in jail... Wow, my feelings don't count for shit. This is jail, right? And you knock on the bars and go, hey man, like I'm a singer-songwriter. You have to let me out of here. And then the guy who you went to high school with goes, 'No I don't.' And you say, 'But Lance,' 'cause that's his name 'Well, Lance, you gotta let me out of here,' and he says, 'No, I don't.'" -- 2016-11-21 - Second City - Chicago, IL * ""If you should find yourself in this song, heaven forbid, don't say 'Oh! What's the chance for epiphany here?' Call the cops. There's a fucking psychopath on my porch. I hate him, and I want him to go to jail. And if the police say 'What if he's having some deep feelings?' Tell them 'Take your patriarchal bullshit down to the garbage can where it belongs and haul this guy off to jail because he has a gun."" 2016-11-21 - Second City - Chicago, IL * At the 2016-11-21 - Second City - Chicago, IL show, John proceeded to play "Going to Georgia" after an audience member offered him $60. * When requested by an audience member at encore - "Dude, I don't know if you got the memo, but I don't play that song anymore. Plenty of other bands cover it very nicely and you can listen to them." 2017-05-25 - Saturn - Birmingham, AL Things Referenced in this Song Live Shows this Song Was Played at *1994-08-18 - Under ACME - New York, NY *1994-08-22 - The Middle East - Cambridge, MA *1995-01-15 - The Chameleon - San Francisco, CA *1995-04-12 - Simplon - Groningen, The Netherlands *1995-04-15 - Underground - Cologne, Germany *1995-04-20 - Magasin 4 - Brussels, Belgium *1995-04-22 - Fast Forward Festival - Dooroosje Club - Nijmegen, The Netherlands *1996-01-15 - Brownie's - New York City, NY *1996-03-14 - Broadway Kino - Essen, Belgium *1996-03-16 - Lintfabriek, Kontich, Belgium *1996-03-20 - The Garage - London, England *1996-03-21 - Beachcomber - Brighton, England *1996-03-23 - Covent Garden Rough Trade - London, England *1996-08-10 - Gabe's - Iowa City, IA *1996-08-30 - Knitting Factory - New York, NY *1996-09-02 - Tokyo Rose - Charlottesville, VA *1996-09-03 - Fletcher's - Baltimore, MD *1996-09-11 - Argo - Denton, TX *1996-11-09 - Zwijnzicht - Dordrecht, Netherlands *1996-11-11 - Schauspielhaus - Bochum, Germany *1996-11-13 - Dreikonigkeller - Frankfurt, Germany *1996-11-22 - Slattery's - Dublin, Ireland *1997-03-xx - New York University - New York, NY *1997-04-04 - Duke Coffeehouse - Durham, NC *1997-06-14 - Zoot's - Detroit, MI *1997-06-16 - Club Laga - Pittsburgh, PA *1997-06-21 - Tokyo Rose - Charlottesville, VA *1997-06-22 - Cat's Cradle - Carrboro, NC *1997-07-16 - Capitol Theater - Olympia, WA *1998-02-06 - Cow Haus - Tallahassee, FL *1998-04-04 - Duke Coffeehouse - Durham, NC *1998-04-12 - Brownie's - New York City, NY *1998-04-17 - Custer Avenue Stages - San Francisco, CA *1998-10-10 - The Rocket Bar - St. Louis, MO *1999-01-23 - High Hat Blues Club - Athens, GA *1999-01-27 - Cat's Cradle - Carrboro, NC *1999-07-23 - CBGB - New York City, NY *1999-10-09 - Crossing Border - Amsterdam, The Netherlands *1999-12-02 - Columbus, OH *2000-09-17 - The Make-Out Room - San Francisco, CA *2000-10-16 - Gate City Noise - Greensboro, NC *2001-02-10 - The Maintenance Shop - Ames, IA *2001-08-03 - 40 Watt Club - Athens, GA *2001-12-07 - Good Records - Dallas, TX *2002-03-07 - Independent Media Center - Urbana, IL *2002-03-08 - The Empty Bottle - Chicago, IL *2002-04-13 - Sky Church - Experience Music Project - Seattle, WA *2002-10-09 - The Cobblestone - Dublin, Ireland *2002-10-10 - ICA - London, England *2002-11-03 - The Grog Shop - Cleveland, OH *2002-11-06 - Knitting Factory - New York, NY *2002-11-13 - Opolis - Norman, OK *2003-02-06 - Spitz - London, England *2003-02-14 - Substanz - Munich, Germany *2003-02-18 - Uffes Källare - Växjö - Gothenberg, Sweden *2003-04-08 - Beta Bar - Tallahassee, FL *2003-04-09 - Will's Pub - Orlando, FL *2003-06-27 - Mains D'oeuvres, Mofo Festival - Paris, France *2003-07-02 - The Guinguette Pirate - Paris, France *2003-11-11 - Kimmel Center - New York University - New York, NY *2004-03-02 - First Unitarian Church - Philadelphia, PA *2004-10-04 - Magic Stick - Detroit, MI *2004-10-11 - The Black Cat - Washington, D.C. *2004-10-19 - Village Tavern - Mt. Pleasant, SC *2005-03-04 - Gate City Noise - Greensboro, NC *2005-03-25 - Rubber Gloves - Denton, TX *2005-06-19 - Neumo's - Seattle, WA *2005-10-22 - The Olde Club - Swarthmore, PA *2005-10-31 - Knitting Factory - New York, NY *2006-08-10 - 40 Watt Club - Athens, GA *2006-08-21 - Easy Street Records - Queen Anne - Seattle, WA *2006-09-24 - Pearl Street Clubroom - Northampton, MA *2006-09-26 - Middle East Downstairs - Cambridge, MA *2006-10-31 - Spanish Moon - Baton Rouge, LA *2007-01-03 - Fowlers Live - Adelaide, Australia *2007-03-09 - Bottom of the Hill - San Francisco, CA *2007-03-11 - The El Rey - Los Angeles, CA *2007-03-31 - Fritz's Corner @ Debaser - Stockholm, Sweden *2007-05-05 - Local 506 - Chapel Hill, NC *2007-06-16 - Zoop - Farm Sanctuary - Watkins Glen, NY *2007-09-21 - Sonar - Baltimore, MD *2007-10-30 - Pabst Theater - Milwaukee, WI *2007-10-31 - 400 Bar - Minneapolis, MN *2007-11-03 - The Slowdown - Omaha, NE *2007-11-06 - Hi-Dive - Denver, CO *2007-12-10 - Oran Mor - Glasgow, Scotland *2008-02-23 - Neumo's - Seattle, WA *2008-02-29 - Bimbo's - San Francisco, CA *2008-03-15 - Middle East - Cambridge, MA *2008-06-06 - Natural History Museum - Los Angeles, CA *2008-08-02 - Bull City Headquarters - Durham, NC *2008-10-18 - In the Venue - Salt Lake City, UT *2008-10-20 - The Showbox - Seattle, WA *2008-10-21 - Wonder Ballroom - Portland, OR *2008-10-25 - Troubadour - Los Angeles, CA *2008-11-03 - Republic - New Orleans, LA *2008-11-05 - Cat's Cradle - Carrboro, NC *2008-11-06 - 9:30 Club - Washington, D.C. *2008-11-09 - Webster Hall - New York, NY *2009-02-24 - Herbst Theatre - San Francisco, CA *2009-03-07 - Harvest of Hope Festival - St. Augustine, FL *2009-03-19 - Duke Coffeehouse - Durham, NC *2009-03-24 - Pearl Street - Northampton, MA *2009-10-13 - Point Ephemere - Paris, France *2009-11-04 - Ladies Literary Club - Calvin College - Grand Rapids, MI *2009-11-05 - The Metro - Chicago, IL *2009-12-01 - Webster Hall - New York, NY *2010-03-10 - NPR Tiny Desk Concert *2010-03-11 - Memorial Union Building - University of New Hampshire - Durham, NH *2010-04-11 - The Zoo - Brisbane, Australia *2010-04-16 - Fowlers Live - Adelaide, Australia *2010-05-16 - BreastFest - American Theater Company - Chicago, IL *2010-05-30 - Doug Fir Lounge - Portland, OR *2010-06-12 - Blue Moose Tap House - Iowa City, IA *2010-06-15 - Gothic Theatre - Denver, CO *2010-07-31 - Holidays for Quince Benefit - The Pinhook - Durham, NC *2010-08-28 - Music for Fences - Durham Central Park - Durham, NC *2010-09-09 - Koko - London, England *2010-09-10 - End of the Road Festival - Salisbury, England *2010-10-04 - The Bottleneck - Lawrence, KS *2010-10-08 - Austin City Limits Festival - Austin, TX *2010-12-17 - Brome for the Holidays - King's Barcade - Raleigh, NC *2011-03-25 - 9:30 Club - Washington, D.C. *2011-03-28 - Bowery Ballroom - New York, NY *2011-04-03 - The Opera House - Toronto, Ontario *2011-04-07 - Variety Playhouse - Atlanta, GA *2011-04-12 - Mr. Smalls - Pittsburgh, PA *2011-05-24 - Coalition - Brighton, England *2011-06-20 - The Fillmore - San Francisco, CA *2011-06-23 - El Rey Theater - Los Angeles, CA *2011-08-05 - Lollapalooza - Grand Park - Chicago, IL *2011-12-06 - Second City - Chicago, IL *2012-01-19 - Antone's - Austin, TX *2012-01-28 - The EARL - Atlanta, GA *2012-01-30 - 40 Watt Club - Athens, GA *2016-11-21 - Second City - Chicago, IL *2019-11-10 - Rockefeller - Oslo, Norway Videos of this Song *2003-06-27 - Mains D'oeuvres, Mofo Festival - Paris, France *2003-07-02 - The Guinguette Pirate - Paris, France *2006-10-31 - Spanish Moon - Baton Rouge, LA *2007-06-16 - Zoop - Farm Sanctuary - Watkins Glen, NY *2008-02-29 - Bimbo's - San Francisco, CA *2009-10-13 - Point Ephemere - Paris, France *2010-06-15 - Gothic Theatre - Denver, CO *2010-07-31 - Holidays for Quince Benefit - The Pinhook - Durham, NC *2010-10-04 - The Bottleneck - Lawrence, KS *2010-12-17 - Brome for the Holidays - King's Barcade - Raleigh, NC *2011-03-25 - 9:30 Club - Washington, D.C. *2011-04-12 - Mr. Smalls - Millvale, PA *2011-06-23 - El Rey Theater - Los Angeles, CA *2011-12-06 - Second City - Chicago, IL *2016-11-21 - Second City - Chicago, IL References Category:Zopilote Machine songs Category:Video